An activist group calling themselves “The Indians of the Concrete Jungle” have emerged in Stockholm and are temporarily “disarming” SUV vehicles in the city by letting down one or more of their tyres and leaving a letter for the owner of the vehicle. Here is a statement from their blog:
A newly formed activist group, calling itself The Indians of the Concrete Jungle, has struck repeatedly against SUVs in the centre of Stockholm over the last weeks. Some 300 of those killer machines have so far been temporarily disarmed. The Indians deflate the tyres of the SUVs and leave a letter to the owner on the windscreen, wherein the action is explained (translation attached below). Considerable fury has arisen among the SUV-owners of the city, as evident in the lynch atmosphere in countless comments on the website of the group as well as in various army, car and sports communities on the web. In one incident, an owner chased an Indian for 20 minutes. Three Indians have been nabbed by the police – apparently giving high priority to stemming this crime – and face various criminal charges. However, the group is determined to continue taking direct action against SUVs, as they constitute one of the most provocative and insane sources of unnecessary carbon emissions (insofar as conspicuous consumption of monster vehicles is not deemed a genuine human need).
Update: New Indian tribes have appeared and have struck against SUVs in Malmö, Gothenburg and Sundsvall.
The Indians would like to recommend this form of direct action to all like-minded groups. If selective SUV-disarmament is done repeatedly and on a massive scale, it will develop from a slight annoyance in the eyes of the owners into a real obstacle for driving the things, thus putting an end to perhaps the most obnoxious aspect of bourgeois carbon addiction. Imagine waking up to a car without air in the tyres every morning, or even once a week! It’s not a complicated manoeuvre: just unscrew the cap of the valve, insert a grain of gravel or stone in it, and screw it back on. The grain will push down the peg in the middle of the valve, making sure the air is gently released. The whole manoeuvre will take about 10 seconds. Leave the SUV, and listen to the beautiful sound of the air petering out.
Letter to SUV owners:
Your SUV kills!
We have deflated one or several tyres of your SUV. Don’t take it personally. It’s your car we don’t like. You are certainly aware of the large amount of fuel it consumes, so we don’t have to enlighten you about that. But either you are ignorant of, or you don’t care about the fact that all the gas you consume by driving around in your SUV in the streets of the city has devastating consequences for others. Scientists are entirely sure that we are very close to pushing climate change over a threshold, into a phase where it will be totally out of control.When the glaciers melt, people’s source of water disappear. When the deserts spread, agricultural fields become uncultivable. When the sea level rises, homes are inundated. Result: billions of refugees, countless deaths. It’s already estimated that 160 000 people die every year due to the effects of climate change, according to the WHO.
As an affluent Swede you will survive longer then most. Those most vulnerable, and already worst afflicted by the global warming caused by Northern affluence, are the people of poor countries. In the end, however, climate chaos will affect us all, poor people as well as rich.This does not have to happen if we impose a radical cut on carbon emissions. Now.
Not tomorrow. That’s why we have disarmed your SUV by deflating the tires.
Since you live in a city with a functioning and accessible public transportation system you will have no problem going where you want without your SUV.The Indians of the Concrete Jungle